The Twins' losing streak is at five games now after losing to the Red Sox. Here are three quick thoughts:

1. Chris Parmelee. That sound. You cringe when you hear the ball strike the batting helmet. But most folks at the park on Wednesday heard the noise when Justin Thomas hit Chris Parmelee in the head with a pitch in the sixth inning.. Justin Morneau was on first base when it happened. "I had about as good of view as anybody,'' he said. " Almost exact same way I got hit in '05, kind of hanging in there, waiting. making sure hanging in long enough for a breaking ball and all of the sudden the two seamer comes running at you and you can’t get away, it’s a scary feeling, I went back and talked to him, seems like he’s doing alright. I think he’s got a little bit of a headache, but other than that, he seemed to be in good spirits, and hopefully the day off will do him some good. Obviously, it’s impossible to tell with these things, but he seemed optimistic, so I’ll be optimistic too." Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Parmelee had a headache and tests will be ongoing. "We're just lucky the kid is O.K." he said. The ball appeared to catch the bill of his helmet more than anything. Thomas was booed off the field, but wasn't trying to hurt Parmelee. "No intention there," Thomas said. "I just hope he's feeling alright."

2. Liam Hendriks. Hendriks admitted that he got away from his game plan Wednesday and needed to throw more strikes, I wonder how the first inning war with Adrian Gonzalez affected him. Gonzalez fought through a 15- pitch at bat, fouling off 10 pitches, before grounding out. Hendriks threw 31 pitches in the first inning.

3. Minnesota sports fans. My brother, who still roots for all Chicago sports teams, has even said, "Minnesota doesn't deserve this." This is a bad run for the pro sports teams. Recent championships belong to the Lnyx and Minnesota Stars. That's it. The anguish is coming out more and more on these blogs and on twitter. Just remember, we're here to let you vent. This could be a long summer.

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La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts. Mark Rosen borrows him occasionally for WCCO-TV.

Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.